Thursday, March 28, 2013

DIY or Partnership Promise?


I just ran across this statement, which goes on about what lies behind the curtain of the arts scene or community. At the end of the day, it's a matter of business at the core.

Colin Newman: "You look at somebody like Damien Hirst. Love or hate his work, the guy’s got his head screwed on in terms of business. And that’s a contemporary artist as far as I’m concerned; you have to know how to engage with the medium in which people receive your work. You can’t sit around and say ‘I’m talented, so someone has to look after me and give me money’. You might get away with it if you’re under 25, but by the time you get to our age nobody gives a fuck. The only way they will give a fuck is if you get on and do it yourself. We have to prove ourselves ten times as much as a young band. It’s an unfortunate aspect that we live in a world where bands of our age mainly just play their back catalog and make a bit of money on their ‘get to see them before their dead tour’. They aren’t really interested in engaging with what they are in a contemporary world. This cannot be Wire’s (our) attitude."

One of the best things I did for my future was move into a shared studio where there are other self-employed professionals all-day, everyday. I used to spend lots of time exploring my local scene; now I spend lots of time learning how to make things work business-wise. 

The ubiquity of attention and celebrity seems like it's the oxygen, or fog -- depending on your paradigm, for people experiencing Art. I think we all understand that about Damien Hirst: his business aspect. It could be that the actual appeal of the work is relegated to taste (or cultural bias), which for today is a secondary concern even when it can seem paramount.